Outside the Touch of Time
by Therm
Summary: *Chapter Two added* Just what exactly is going on in Daryl Dixon's mind as he travels with the rest of the Atlanta survivors. First TWD fanfic! Will go chronologically through each episode. Darly bias... no slash, no pairings, no AU!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Outside the Touch of Time  
><strong>Summary: <strong>Just what exactly is going on in Daryl Dixon's mind as he travels with the rest of the Atlanta survivors.  
><strong>Notes:<strong> This is my first The Walking Dead fanfic, but not my first ever fic so hopefully it won't suck too much.  
>I've been reading some wonderful stories and decided I'd throw my hat in the mix. I've always been obsessed with zombies and whenever I write for a different fandom I always conspire to get zombies in it, whatever show it is and how weird it seems. I pretty much think nothing can't be made better by adding zombies, lol!<br>This fic will deal with what's going on with Daryl throughout each episode, in order. Some episodes Daryl barely has a role to play and I thought I'd explore what he could be thinking & feeling in those episodes.  
>No OC's, no slash, no Caryl.<br>**Warnings:** Each episode will deal with spoilers for certain episodes. I'll be sure to add the episode it will spoil at the beginning of the chapter.  
><strong>Characters:<strong> Daryl, ensemble cast.  
><strong>Rating: <strong>For language, Merle Dixon is in this after all!

**Chapter 1**  
><strong>Notes: <strong>Set around 'Days Gone By' & 'Guts' (S1,E1 & E2). As we knew of Merle in Guts, but he never mentioned Daryl, it's hard to know how the pair will be together seeing as the only time we've seen them together has been in a fever dream Daryl had. So, I've kept it vague. Some racist language in this part due to an appearance by the loveable Merle.  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> 'Days Gone By' & 'Guts' (S1,E1 & E2) If you haven't seen these episodes already then why the hell are you reading fanfiction for the show without having seen the pilot episode? You crazy person, you! ;)

_"We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.  
><em>_We live outside the touch of time."_

1.

_The last thing he'd remembered before he went out on the hunt was talk about going into Atlanta. _

_He hadn't paid anyone much attention, he never did. Something about a group of them going for supplies. Daryl already had a trip planned. He was going out to see what meat he could rustle up. As far as he was concerned, meat was meat but he saw the various looks of disgust when he bought back squirrels, especially the kids. He and Merle were the only ones who ate them and it might be the same again if all he could find was more squirrels, but he'd been in the woods earlier and had found droppings and they weren't from no squirrel. _

_He'd headed back to camp and started to get together all he'd need to track a deer. He wouldn't receive so many sneers when he bought the camp back a damn deer for them all to gnaw on. He told Merle he was heading out and he'd received a grunt of acknowledgement. He could tell from the look on his brothers face that he had something going on. Merle was watching the group about to head out and headed over towards them. Daryl was ready to go but sat at the tent, watching to see what Merle was up to before he left. _

_"Well ya'll missing one thing from your little trip? What you bunch of assholes need is someone who can protect you."_

_"I think we're good thanks," Andrea said_

_"I wasn't speaking to you, bitch. In fact, I wasn't asking for any of ya'll permission to go." _

_Shane looked to T Dog, "You okay with this, man?" _

_"Far as I'm concerned, the Dixon's can come and go where they please. And if one of them wants to walk into Atlanta, so be it," Quieter, just for Shane's ears he added "and if one person doesn't come back from this trip, rather it be him than anyone else." _

_Daryl watched the way Merle interacted with them all. He eyed up the black guy and the cop, the ones who were having quiet words together out of his brother's ear shot. Daryl stood up, grabbing his crossbow and before slinging it over his back, he aimed it at the nigger's head and he watched the fear on the man's face when he saw it aimed at him. Daryl slung the bow over his shoulder, smirking slightly as he headed towards the camp. "Ain't even loaded you dumb shit." _

_"Can you watch your mouth? My son can hear you," Lori chided. _

_Daryl eyed her darkly but never slowed his pace "Can you mind your own God damn business? Merle, I'm gonna bring back something good for when you get back."_

_Merle looked in his brother's direction. "You do that little bro," he said, before turning back to the group he was about to head out with, enjoying how uncomfortable he made them. _

_Daryl kept heading further into the woods and before he got to deep, took one quick look back towards the group about to head out before the woods obscured his view. _

That was the last time he saw Merle.  
>Replaced with the just arrived Rick Grimes, the sonuvabitch who handcuffed his brother to a roof and left him there to die. Like it wasn't bad enough that he lost his deer to a damn walker, now he had to deal with some guy on a power trip thinking that just because he used to be a cop made him the one in charge? And if it wasn't bad enough that he thought he was the boss, he was buddies with the other cop anyway so the pair really thought they ran the camp.<p>

There was a scuffle. So maybe trying to stab Rick with his knife wasn't the best way to handle the situation, but it wasn't the kinda news he expected to return to. He'd gathered it was bad news but that they'd actually left Merle handcuffed to a roof was something else. He expected him to get bitten by a walker or something like that, that was what happened when the world was over run with the dead, but this was different. This was the people he was supposed to be trusting to watch his back cuffing his brother up and leaving him behind. Would they do the same to him? Damn sure they would.

Not that it mattered much. He wasn't planning on sticking around to find out. He'd go back and get Merle himself 'cause he knew he couldn't trust any of these folks to do it. Yet surprisingly, the cop, Rick, was the first to step up. Seemed a bit dumb to him. If he were gonna cuff a man to the roof and leave him, he'd make sure it wasn't anyone he wanted to go back and save, but his moral code was simpler.

Before he knew it there were four of them ready to go into Atlanta to save Merle. Besides Rick it was T Dog and Glenn. Not his choice of companions but he guessed they were better going in numbers than just he and Rick.

They drove back in the truck that the group had taken from Atlanta to start with and the moved quickly through the streets, Glenn leading the way for them to get back to where they'd left Merle. At the top of the door, the padlock was cut and then Daryl pushed through, keen to get to his brother, but as he scanned the area he quickly realised there was nobody there.  
>There was a hand, but no body.<p>

Damn Rick Grimes to hell. Damn the lot of them!

Before he'd got back to camp it hadn't exactly looked like they were in the middle of planning a rescue mission. It wasn't until Daryl had got back they started any kind of talk about going back for Merle. And look what the waiting had done.

He was through with the lot of them. He'd make them pay.

TBC...

**A/N:** Well, probably. I'm not sure how I feel about this fic at the minute. If any one is interested then I'll give the next chapter a shot. If everyone hates it, I won;t blame them because I'm not sure I like it that much... Thanks for reading anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This deals with events from the episode _Vatos_, although it will be in two parts. There's a lot of ground I want to cover here.  
>Thanks to <strong>jaded79<strong>, **Auds1978** and r**ebecca taylor** for the reviews. :)  
>It was mentioned before that maybe this didn't sound that much like Daryl. I'm hoping this does. But he's a tough voice to get in my head right now, but I shall keep practising. :) So, if it's an improvement but needs a bit more work still, let me know.<br>Strong language throughout.

2.

So he knew he'd never do it.

Even with his crossbow aimed right at T Dog's damn head, he knew that he wasn't actually gonna kill the bastard. But it didn't mean he didn't wanna. Hell, he'd happily turn this thing on all of 'em, seeing as each one of 'em had been there before and left his brother behind. The cop, Grimes, wasn't going to let anything happen though. He'd leave people handcuffed to a roof but try and get a little vengeance and the barrel was suddenly pointing at your head.

And so he lowered his weapon and he manned the fuck up because he wasn't about to let these assholes know how pissed he was. And Merle would kick his ass if he knew what a sissy he was being right now.

First thing was first, he got Merle's hand. No way was he gonna leave his brother's hand on the roof to get picked apart by some scavenging bird and next was to find out where the hell Merle had wandered off to.  
>He didn't expect the others to stick around and didn't care one way or another, but as he started to follow Merle's blood trail he heard the footsteps behind him. Rick stuck close, the others hung back, either afraid to put themselves out for the sake of Merle or just playing a grown up version of follow the leader. Made little difference anyway, he could handle this alone. And so could Merle, it seemed. Following the trail of blood to where Merle has burnt his bleeding stump to stop himself losing any more blood and then the broken window he'd clearly escaped from. A strange sense of pride swelled within Daryl at his brothers ruthless determination to survive. A clear 'Fuck you' to the men who'd left him behind, Daryl just wished Merle was able to see the looks on their faces. They were probably starting to realise they'd picked the wrong guy to fuck with.<p>

He was ready to head out into the streets searching high and low for Merle, walkers be damned. He knew with all he'd been taught he'd be able to navigate his way through them and stay out of harms way. He didn't expect the others to have any interest in helping, expected them to get off back to the truck and the camp and forget the Dixon brothers forever if they could. But that's where Rick surprised him. Wanted to help him in his search for Merle? I mean, what the fuck was that? He's cuffed him on a roof, drove out of the city and then after reuniting with his family, was ready to come back to the same over run city to save the guy he'd cuffed? Where the hell was the logic here? But he felt it wasn't really time to question the guys motives. He wanted to help search for Merle then he wasn't about to say no. But they wanted the guns first. And as much as Daryl hated to leave Merle's rescue any longer, it made sense. They weren't exactly sporting any kind of impressive arsenal that would help if they got overrun. Besides, they didn't even know where to look for Merle right now. He couldn't track the guy through a damn city.

And then it was the Asian's kids turn to shine. He sure knew what he was talking about when it came to getting around town without incident. At least in theory. Made sure he was covered and had an escape route mapped out in case the first fell through. And it was good enough that no one had anything else to add to it, they followed along with what he said, trusting the kids judgement. Even after finding out he was a fucking pizza delivery boy before all this shit went down. Typical. Weren't like no pizza delivery guy Daryl had ever seen. Kid seemed like he'd get your pizza to you no matter what, life or fucking death, you'd get your God damn pizza.

He pushed the thoughts away, needed to stay focused. The plan called for him to cover the Asian kid while he went for the bags and if all went well, he'd return the same way. All he had to do was keep an eye out for the kid, make sure that no walker got too close for comfort or started to block his path. All he really had to do was stay out of sight and wait for the Asian... now, he just told him where he came from, but dammit if Daryl could remember now whether it was Japan or China? He'd just told him, too. Fuck, he had to start paying attention when people talked to him, the problem was, he stayed alert. All the time. He wasn't always listening to the talk because he was listening for the sound or trouble. Like right now, while he waited for the kid to get back, he could hear the sound of someone approaching behind him. Didn't sound like a walker, they were clumsier. Whoever it was, they attempted to be quiet. Could be one of the other guys, but that meant the plan was already fucked, which was bad, so he'd expect more urgency, less creeping. Time to see who the fuck it was trying to sneak up on him.

TBC

**A/N:** So, I'm hoping Daryl's thoughts seemed more Daryl, although it's not completely in Daryl's POV either, it's a bit weird. But I am hopefully on the right tracks. I need to study Daryl a bit more in the second half of this episode before I write more. Feedback is love. :)


End file.
